Ignorantia juris non excusat
by paulinemcc
Summary: As a vampire Bella understands the Laws of the Volturi and willingly carries out missions to destroy those that break them. Finding out the Cullen's are breaking some of those rules Bella finds herself reluctant to report them, especially as one of those broken rules comes in the form of her mate Alice Cullen.
1. Chapter 1

**Usual disclaimer: **own nothing, sadly

**Ignorantia juris non excusat**

**Part 1**

Having tracked her prey into this city Bella was frustrated by the high level of humans still actively wandering the streets. Growling as their scents mixed and overwhelmed her senses, she ducked into the first alleyway she crossed and made her way to the brick building's rooftop.

The full moon and the street lights helped Bella search out her victim as rain started to fall from the sky above. She smirked as the change in weather would no doubt aid her hunt. Having no luck from this rooftop after a few minutes Bella raced over nearby roofs to a better vantage point and kneeled down over at one corner while her eyes scanned the thinning crowds and she heightened her senses to pick up her elusive prey again.

As she watched something else caught her attention and her jaw clenched at the added complication to her night. She had spent three days tracking this vampire all the way from Chicago and she wasn't going to let more vampires come between her and her soon to be victim.

She watched the three figures walk across the street below to a car park, two females and a male. The smaller of the two females held her attention and as she followed their progress Bella was stunned to see her pause and grasp the male's arm. Bella could have sworn she'd heard her gasp. Shifting uncomfortably as some internal instinct tried to force Bella down onto the street to go to the vampires and offer her assistance. With a snort of disbelief Bella growled and dug her fingers into the cornerstone she was hunkered down next to as she closed her eyes and forced herself to remain exactly where she was.

Having wrestled her control back into place, Bella glanced again to that spot on the sidewalk only to find it empty of all three vampires.

Stone crumbled in her hand and her eyes narrowed, turning an inky black. Snarling in anger she stood and leaped down the side of the building and raced across the road dodging humans as she inhaled the new scents and quickly chased after them.

xxxxxxxx

"Alice?" Rosalie asked in concern as her sister paused and gripped Emmett's arm.

Emmett sent a calm smile at his worried wife. "She's fine babe." He told her as she stood next to him and they both waited for the smaller girl to come out of her vision.

Standing guard Emmett kept watch around them, confident he'd be able to protect both women should he be called to but Alice having a vision in public always drew unwanted attention. He heard his sister gasp and immediately refocused on her. "What?"

"Alice?" Rosalie asked at the same time.

Alice blinked and shook her head to clear the images from her mind. _So much blood. _She gulped and took off in what she hoped was the right direction. There wasn't much time.

Emmett quirked an eyebrow at Rosalie and they soon both took off after their sister. Rosalie quickly lifting Alice up onto her back as they ran.

xxxxxxxx

It didn't take Bella long to track the vampires to a secluded area behind a boarded up shop less than a mile away from where Bella had first spotted the trio. She could detect the sounds of a fight going on as she approached silently from an angle that would give her a complete view of the area.

She paused at the corner of the building a grin on her face as she took in the fight going on. The male was pounding a slimmer vampire, also male, and clearly outclassed. Bella decided she could afford the setback in her own hunt to take in the scene unfolding in front of her.

Plus, the little dark haired female was proving an intriguing discovery. How exactly did she lead the other two to this male and why? As Bella listened to the beaten male plead that he didn't know the area belonged to them and offered to leave immediately and without trying to feed again.

Bella inched forward, using her well-honed skills to remain out of sight and undetected.

xxxxxxx

Rosalie's eyes lit up as she watched her husband go to town on the older looking vampire. Her baby was impressive.

Alice rolled her eyes at her sister, nudging her with her elbow.

"What?" Rosalie asked trying to look innocent.

Alice sighed knowing full well just what was going to happen soon. She didn't even need her gift for that. Alice turned and started making her way towards the alley back to the main street.

"Just get it over with, and I'll bring the car around." She said and when Rosalie opened her mouth to protest her leaving she tapped the side of her head with her finger. "I'll be fine."

Conceding, Rosalie chuckled as Alice started walking away, then turned back to take in Emmett as he met her gaze and quickly wrapped his arm around his captives neck and pulled it free leaving nothing but a shower of dust that he passed through to gather up his wife in his arms.

"How long do you think Tink will let us get away with?" He asked as Rosalie jumped up onto him.

Rosalie kissed him hard on the mouth shaking her head as Emmett backed her up against the wall.

"Who cares!"

Emmett laughed then focused again on his reward for a good fight and kill.

xxxxxxx

Alice, knowing just what she'd left behind, took her time making her way to the car park where they'd left Rosalie's Mustang. She opened the door for the stairwell, bypassing the lift, and made her way up to the third floor. She argued that saving that girl had earned Emmett and Rose at least half an hour to…work out the aftermath.

Alice didn't really understand how fighting could make her siblings hot but she did feel good knowing a life had been saved tonight because of them, and that there was one less human feeder hunting on her families territory.

_I might even give them an hour before disturbing their little love fest_. She thought to herself as with a skip in her step as she opened the door to the third level. She didn't get it, but then she wasn't mated like Rosalie was to Emmett, maybe if she was then seeing such a strong display by her mate might make her frisky too.

Alice giggled making her way across the almost vacant parking area. The quiet didn't bother her, nor did the lack of activity. She liked the peace. It was hard for her to be around her family all the time, and as much as she loved Emmett and Rose, whom she spent most of her time with outside the family home, she was often left feeling more alone than ever seeing how in love they were.

She sighed then shook her head to clear the thoughts. There was no point dwelling on her past, the Cullen's had given her more than she ever thought possible, and maybe one day she too would experience life as they did.

xxxxxx

As Bella started following the retreating short haired female she was struck with the realisation that she was following a human, her beating heart being just one of the clues.

And she was a human that not only knew about vampires, but was personally involved with at least two of them.

This was not only a breach of vampire law it went against vampire instinct to be in such close proximity to a human for extended periods of time and not feed from them.

Bella stared at the girl as she sat in the driver's seat of a red convertible mustang, her position at the far end of the level and the darkness of her clothes assured Bella that the human girl wouldn't see her. The scent of the two other vampires had obviously masked the girls own scent, which was good because it would not only ward off other vampires in the area it would also make humans wary of spending time with the girl without really understanding why.

It was how vampires protected their human pets in days gone by. But the Volturi had long since outlawed the practice for fear of exposure and to prevent vampires interfering in human society. Only the Volturi themselves had that right and any other vampire caught attempting such a thing paid for it with their life.

So now Bella found herself in a bit of a dilemma, one she still had a vampire to take care of tonight and secondly she found herself drawn to a human that seemed to have been claimed by a coven of vampires already.

Deciding to deal with this human later Bella started heading for the exit knowing it would take her directly past the car the girl was sitting in. As she passed behind the car at vampire speed she inhaled deeply to capture the females scent and was struck by how clean and almost pure the flavour was that she gave off. It was strange to think of anyone living with vampires could retain such an innocence.

She was very intriguing indeed.

As Bella slipped into the stairwell she vowed to relocate her prey and dispose of him quickly before returning for the girl.

xxxxxxx

"Should we tell Carlisle about VampBoy?" Emmett asked his wife seated beside him as they drove into Forks. Alice had drifted to sleep in the back seat about half an hour into the drive back from Seattle. It had been a long day of shopping and then dinner and a movie, and that was before the nomad had interrupted their day out.

"Yes." Rosalie replied knowing that Edward would no doubt be able to read all of their thoughts and pick it up anyway. Better to just give their side of it before he manipulated the information to suit his own agenda. "He'll find out anyway. Better it come from us."

Emmett nodded then spared a glance at Alice in the mirror before lowering his voice anyway. "Think he'll be mad?"

Rosalie snorted not caring particularly if that was the case. "Oh, I'm sure we'll get a lecture on how violence is never the answer but Alice saved that girls life tonight and I don't really give a shit if Eddie or Carlisle has a problem with it." The girl they had save, or more accurately, the girl Alice had saved wouldn't have had any idea that the man that had pulled her into that back alley was anything other than a twisted, sick human, who had released her to run off the minute Emmett had gotten close and yelled at him.

"Do you think he was alone?" Emmett had thought he was but you could never be too sure, nomads often travelled and hunted alone but there was always a chance that there was more than just him, and Emmett had been too quick to the kill to have asked many questions.

Rosalie nodded. "I didn't smell a mate or other vampire on him so he was probably alone, but if not I guess we'll hear about killings or disappearances in the area soon enough."

Emmett grunted as he turned into the driveway to their home. Just as he pulled into the garage and brought the car to a stop Rosalie was already carefully pulling Alice into her arms.

Together they headed into the house and as they walked into the main living area of the house where Edward and Jasper were seated over a chess game, something in one of their minds must have given Edward a heads up as to what had happened in Seattle because he flashed over to them blocking their path.

"What did you do?" He demanded accusingly.

Rosalie growled threateningly as she tightened her hold on her sister and tried to move passed Edward to take Alice to her room.

"Get out of my way now, Edward." She spat at him quietly as he moved to the side with her.

"Dude!" Emmett said before putting his hand on Edwards shoulder to move him out of the way and let his wife go put Alice to bed. As she raced up to the next floor Carlisle and Esme entered the room having heard the altercation taking place from his study.

"What seems to be the problem?" Carlisle asked looking from Edward to Emmett for an explanation.

"They killed tonight!" Edward told his father as he glared at Emmett.

Emmett scoffed and moved to the couch in front of the large screen tv and started up his computer game. "I killed some nomad that was about to start feeding from a human." He said and some of the tension in the room caused by Edwards's words disappeared. "And I'd do it again." He added just to piss Edward off.

"Well," Carlisle started as he sat down with his wife. "It would have been more of a problem if it had been a human you killed, as it's not, then I will hope that you took the only course of action you had available to you."

"Right." Emmett replied not really sure what he was agreeing with but what was done was done, it wasn't like they could change it now.

"That's it?" Edward whined in disbelief.

Carlisle sighed as he stood again taking Esme's hand in his own. "What more should I say Edward?"

Scowling and unable to respond Edward growled and stalked off to his room, slamming the door loudly as he went.

"I worry about him." Esme muttered quietly as she shoot a glance at the stairwell as Rosalie returned. "How was your trip dear, aside from the encounter with the nomad?"

Rosalie shrugged as she sat next to her husband. "Alice seemed to enjoy it and we all now have new clothes for the start of school on Monday."

"And she wasn't too upset by the scene with the vampire?" Carlisle asked.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and picked up the nearest magazine in reach to start flicking through. "You seem to forget how she met Jasper."

Jasper paused with a chess piece in his hand, finding himself having to contribute to the conversation as eyes turned to him. "Alice is…special." He informed them awkwardly. His own history with Alice extends beyond the rest of the coven having been the first to meet her a few years ago.

He had come across Alice and her father arguing in a parking lot late at night in a small town in the South as he went hunting. He had been drawn by her screams and had gotten there in time to see her pleading and begging with a man twice her size and build only to be struck repeatedly and shoved into the back of a car.

Jasper hadn't even thought, just reacted on instinct as he raced over in anger and drained the man dry before dropping his lifeless body to the ground all in full view of the girl in the car.

They had stared at each other for a long moment before Jasper had opened the door and extended his hand in invitation. "Come with me." He had offered and then she had placed her hand into his and followed him away.

They had travelled as brother and sister for almost a year before Alice had a vision of the Cullen's and Jasper allowed himself to trust Alice enough to once again becoming a member of a coven of vampires.

That was almost two years ago, and he had been rewarded for his trust in Alice when he had encountered his mate less than four months ago. Bree, a newborn who seemed to rebel against her own instinct to kill, even shying away from killing animals until her need grew too strong.

Which reminded him that he had someone waiting for him in his room with plans to spend the next day hunting before they were forced into pretending to be high school students once more. "Now if you'll excuse me, Bree and I are going to do some hunting" He said politely and stood up and left the room.

"See, no big deal." Rosalie continued informing Esme.

Carlisle sighed and nodded. "In any case we will have to keep a close eye on Seattle for the next few weeks just to be certain."

"Sure thing Pop." Emmett said as he continued on with his game unconcerned.

Rosalie shook her head as her 'parents' disappeared from the room and she could read in peace.

xxxxxxx

Having been successful in her hunt Bella had returned to the parking lot just in time to see the girl leaving to return to the mated pair she had left to have sex in that back alley.

Being careful to remain undetected she had followed behind the car and become suspicious of the identity of the vampires given the direction they seemed to be travelling in but her thoughts had been proven correct when they had passed through Forks and stopped at a large house on the outskirts of the town.

She'd know exactly which coven she was looking at even before she had climbed into a tree and witnessed Carlisle enter into the room.

This was the Cullen's.

The Cullen's by law were a coven that had several restrictions placed upon them by the Volturi given that they spent such a large amount of time among humans, but also because of Edward's gift was one Aro had taken special interest in.

The rules were that they were not allowed to turn a human, and they were not permitted to increase the size of their coven.

Now Bella was truly in the middle of a problem because as she made a circuit of the building she learnt not only had the Cullen's increased their number with the blonde curly haired male and a young looking female, they had the human girl living with them.

And turning her would break both laws.

Bella listened in to the conversations then slowly headed into the forest, she had some thinking to do. She had a very good idea as to why she was so drawn to the dark haired _Alice_ but she wouldn't be sure until she could meet her face to face, and that would take a bit of planning as now that her hunt was complete she was expected to return home.

And that just wasn't going to work now.

xxxxxxx

**AN/**

New story, another Bellice although I am very tempted by a Bella/Rosalie or Bella/Jane pairing so who knows which one I'll pick next.

This fic will only be about ten chapters long, which I'm sure will no doubt please a few of you out there :D


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

School.

She should have remembered that. Back in Volterra the Cullens were often ridiculed for Carlisle's attempt to live as a human with his coven, playing 'father' to his children.

Bella snorted at the idea, yet she herself willingly called one of the Volturi Masters Father. But to Bella that was a mark of respect for the older vampire than for having paternal feelings for him. She retained little memory of her own human life and none at all of the man who fathered her. So she lacked the experience to understand it, taking more from the roles portrayed by wild animals than by humans. Large mammals often cast out their offspring to fend for themselves after they had learned to hunt. Of course some animals lived in packs and to Bella that is what she considered the Volturi to an extent, they were the strongest of the strong, allowing them the best feeding grounds, and the control of the weak.

The Cullens on the other hand were like a pride of lions attempting to feed and live as the wildebeest do. And that was just plain offensive to the other lions.

But Bella understood about forming a family.

She counted several among the Volturi guard alone as brother or sister. But to work beside humans, attend high school with them as if they were your equals? That, Bella would never understand.

But here she was, finding the high school and checking out the surround area of Forks as if it held an appeal to her beyond the opportunity to spend time with the human girl Alice. It annoyed her on principle. Had the girl been with any other group of vampires or had Bella found her alone living without knowledge of vampires then Bella's course of action would have been very simple.

Want.

Take.

Have.

Standing at the top of the food chain as Bella did, she had nothing to fear from allowing herself to act out her base instincts. Only now she had the complication of the Cullens to deal with, whom Aro had great fondness for, she doubted even she would get away with just taking the girl.

Bella sighed and started making her way back to the Cullen house she knew she would have to tread carefully so as not to turn Alice against her. Even if she was her mate, the fact that she was human meant she would feel strangely drawn to Bella but could still allow her emotions to dissuade her from forming a true connection. Humans were so weak minded and tended to form a collective opinion on subjects so as to appear normal amongst peers and this was especially true of teenagers.

It was also unlikely that the Cullens would approve of them even with being mates. Claiming the girl would mean taking her back to Volterra, away from the Cullens. She could by right have them all taken to Volterra to go before the Masters for simply having the human among them but Bella knew the girl was unlikely to favour her were she to cause any of the Cullens harm.

That left her with the option of meeting them under the guise of attending the same school. It would let them acknowledge each other as vampires without putting the Cullens on alert as to her true motivation.

Caught up in her thoughts on how to win Alice over Bella almost didn't notice the musky odour in the night air until the stench was almost on top of her. Ducking low on instinct she avoided the sharp teeth and claws that sailed over her by inches, as a massive fur covered body crashed into the forest floor a few feet from her and spun around to come back at her.

Standing to her full height, Bella eyed the animal before a smile lit up her face as she grasped this was no woodland predator and in fact she was dealing with a wolf shifter, she hadn't encountered animal shifters of any kind in several years so this was a great find indeed.

"Oh," She said as the thing lowered its grey and black speckled fur covered body into a crouch and growled at her as it prepared to attack again. It obviously knew what she was but didn't know enough to realise that it had gone from hunter to the hunted having lost the element of surprise after its first attack. "Puppy, you are so far out of your league." She informed it with a grin and shake of her head as she circled around keeping her body centred as she waited for it to make its move.

As they stalked around each other Bella studied the scents in the air and came to the conclusion that the shifter was alone, although there was the faint smell of others drifting towards her on the ocean breeze.

_A pack of shifters living so close to the Cullens? _It was a strange thought as it was doubtful the two knew nothing of each other, so perhaps this one had come looking for an easier target, mistaking Bella for one of the Cullen vampires.

She grinned and came to a standstill and waited. "Your move mutt."

The shifter growled at her, its eyes narrowing and she knew from the small tells of its muscles it was about to pounce at her.

It never stood a chance.

As it leapt at her with is claws aimed and jaw wide she pulled her body in tight and pushed low to throw herself under its body, twisting as she went to reach out and grip its back leg as it passed over her and dug her heels in to stop her movement and give her the leverage to snap the hind leg with a savage turn of her wrists.

The large grey wolf howled in pain as it landed, limping heavily as it quickly tried to shift around to face her again.

Bella stood there smirking at it. While not fatal, the injury would have meant looming death to any other animal had it attacked Bella, but that wasn't in Bella's plans tonight.

"Here puppy, puppy."

As Bella stalked towards the shifter it whimpered and possibly realised it was in real danger, tried to scramble away from her. As it turned away in an attempt to run Bella jumped forward falling on the large body as she wrapped her arms around the shifters neck and started tightening her grip, taking them both to the ground.

It howled, struggling to free itself as it tried to claw at her, but she'd judged her angles correctly and so she was out of range.

"Now, now, just relax." Bella told it as her hold started to starve the shifter's body of oxygen and its movements slowed and weakened. She chuckled and soon felt it go limp in her arms.

Standing over the unconscious body she took in its colouring, it was male, obvious by its member, and looked young. Something she also suspected from its thoughtless attacks on her.

The main advantage wolves had in hunting its prey was the fact that they were pack animals and wore down their prey before going in for the kill. This shifter acted alone, so it was perhaps the outsider in its pack or a lower member eager to move up the ranks by killing her.

In any case it lost, and Bella now had a prize that she needed to move out of the area and fast before any of the other shifters came for it. Luckily the shifter returned to its human form which made running with it easier as she lifted it up onto her shoulder.

xxxxx

"Hey Gianna!" Bella had to travel a few miles from her previous location in order to use a pay phone as she never carried a cell phone. She had never once liked the idea of being at the beck and call of anyone who knew your number, especially when it came to the Volturi, she didn't enjoy feeling like some lackey. "I need a pick up from Seattle ASAP with a handler or two."

Bella listened to the receptionist tap a keyboard for several minutes.

"Monday 7.30pm local?" Came the response in heavily accented English.

Bella pouted as it meant that she'd have to leave as soon as school let out in order to make it when what she'd been hoping to do was follow a certain human around. "Sure Gia, thanks."

"And who is the package to be delivered to?" The receptionist asked.

Bella grinned at the thought of its arrival to Volterra. "It's for Father. Is he around?"

"One moment please." Gianna replied putting Bella on hold with some very annoying music.

While still human, Bella held a great fondness for the receptionist that took the goings on in and around Volterra all in her stride, from the tourists being taken to their deaths to the pain and torture the guards often inflicted to others.

But Gia was out of bounds to every vampire on pain of death if they so much as harmed a hair on the woman's head. She'd originally been told she would be turned into one of them if she worked for them, it had been a lie at the time but now several years later Bella couldn't imagine the place without her.

No one else in Volterra could do as good a job as the human female. Aro would simply be lost without her keeping him up to date with expected arrivals and correspondence from other coven's around the world who were constantly seeking support and favour from the Masters on all manner of things.

Someone would have to turn Gianna soon before something unexpected happened to the woman and took her from them.

"Is there anything else I can do for you before I put you through?"

"No thank you Gia." Bella replied warmly. A few moments later a male voice came through the line that had Bella scowling.

"Isabella my dear!"

That was not Father. Bella pouted for a second before deciding just to get on with it. "Hey Aro, Father busy?"

"Oh, you know Marcus, he rarely leaves his basement just for calls."

Bella sighed. That was true, although she did take heart that her gift would be a welcome distraction to Marcus' work.

"So, did everything go to plan? It is unlike you to call, is there a problem?" Aro asked in his lilting voice which Bella often found condescending.

Bella's lip twitched as she held back a growl. "Of course everything went well."

"Good, good."

"In fact I'm sending Father a gift that I found on my travels which I'm sure he'll enjoy." She told him.

"Is that so?"

"It should arrive mid-week, please make sure Marcus is prepared."

"Oh, he will be pleased, such a treasure you are Isabella."

Bella rolled her eyes.

"Are you returning?" Aro asked leadingly as he suspected there was more to the call.

"Not for a while I don't think." Bella admitted.

"Hm." There was a pause from Aro and Bella slipped a few more coins into the phone even as they dropped to the ground as she'd broken it to retrieve the coins to make the call in the first place. Money was something she had no use for expect for situations like this one. "I was told you're in Washington? Are you currently in Seattle my dear?"

Bella frowned, wondering where Aro was going by this line of questioning. "Close."

"Ah, then would I be mistaken in guessing you might have taken interest in a Coven in that area?"

"Maybe." She admitted reluctantly.

"So the Cullens have returned to Forks, I was led to believe they were still in Alaska at this present time."

Bella shrugged, it had sounded from what she'd manage to overhear that they had just recently arrived but she wasn't going to give Aro more information than he already had. "I guess."

"Well, you will give Carlisle my best wishes and express my hopes that he will once again grace us here with his presence, he and his family are so fascinating."

"Uh, huh. Will do."

"Wonderful!" He said excited at the prospect of her interaction with Carlisle and the Cullens. "And when can I expect your return?"

Bella's eyes narrowed as Aro's tone went from gleeful to serious in the space of seconds.

"I'll call back and find out how my package was received." She told Aro without any emotion. While she enjoyed these little assignments on behalf of the Volturi, she did them to keep herself from killing members of the guard out of sheer boredom.

Eternal life wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Of course that was before Bella had come across Alice Cullen.

"Well Isabella the halls around this place will miss you so whatever it is that has caught your attention with Carlisle's way of life, remember you have a duty here."

Another eye roll. "Of course Master Aro, I'll return as soon as I'm done here."

"Very well."

And with that Aro hung up.

Bella returned the receiver to its place and glanced down at the small mountain of quarters on the booth floor. She shook her head at the damage and left. She had a few hours left till sun up when Alice would awaken and Bella could get a better understanding of the girl.

After all of these years it was heartening to find her life was about to hold a whole new meaning and purpose to it.

Bella had a mate to introduce herself to in the next few days.

She grinned as her excitement started to build as she raced back into the woods.

xxxxxx

A few miles from the Cullen house Bella was nearly overwhelmed by the stench of wet dog in the air.

Intrigued by the strength of the smell and by finding more evidence of shifters in the area Bella altered her path and headed directly for the scent.

Careful to remain hidden Bella was soon listening to growls and snarls as voices argued in the near distance as she slowed her run to a jog, still looking out for any danger.

"It was a bloodsucker!" Came a an angry shout as Bella slipped unnoticed behind a tree as she took in three of the Cullens standing off against several shifter wolves and two native American boys who stood bare chested in jean shorts.

"Well it wasn't any of us mutt!" Came the thundering voice of the male Bella had seen with Alice in Seattle, Emmett she'd gathered was his name.

"You are the only leeches in the area." The younger male accused.

"Can we all calm down please?" Carlisle asked, hoping to prevent either group starting a fight. He did his best to ignore the constant growling from the wolves and focused on Sam, the pack leader.

"I'm sorry to hear that a member of your tribe has gone missing Sam, but what makes you so certain it was the result of a vampire?" He asked.

Sam's jaws clenched as he fought with his wolf to remain in human form. "Because I was wolf at the time and he told us he'd caught the scent of a leech."

"Where was this?" Carlisle asked.

"At the edge of our land just before Forks." Sam replied.

Carlisle shook his head. "My family haven't been anywhere near there since we arrived."

"And we're supposed to just trust your word for that?"

"Jacob!" Sam barked at his beta, they were here for information, not to start a war.

"What?" The other boy asked, rounding on Sam. "Paul's gone missing and instead of getting out there and trying to find him we're talking to leeches!"

There was a moment of silence as the Cullens watched the face-off.

"So, he's still alive?" Emmett asked out of curiosity.

Sam turned back to the vampires, dismissing Jacob's temper. "We would feel it if he'd died but he's not in wolf form so we have no way of communicating with him." He explained.

"He's telling the truth." Edward informed Carlisle.

Carlisle nodded with a frown. "Are you sure it was a vampire?"

"Of course we are!" Jacob growled at them as the wolves shifted restlessly beside him, looking eager to attack. "We raced out to where he was but by the time we got there he was gone, but there was a faint smell of rotting flesh, just like you fuckers!"

"Jacob, that's enough!" Sam admonished the younger boy. He turned back to Carlisle. "We're sure it was a vampire."

Carlisle nodded, acceptingly. "Forgive me, it's just unheard of that a vampire would attack one such as you and not kill." He got the increased noise of growling he'd expected from his statement, but he was assured of Sam's control of his pack. "We would have no use for you even as food."

"Because you reek!" Emmett cut in, his face twisting into a grimace just at the thought of feeding from one of the mutts in front of him. "No offence." He added with a grin as several barks were directed at him.

"Then we're done here." Sam said, the Cullens had nothing to tell them about Paul's disappearance and staying any longer would likely end with a fight.

Sam gave Carlisle a reluctant nod of respect and turned to shift back into his wolf form and leave only to stop when Jacob gripped his arm.

"You can't be serious!" Jacob yelled. "We haven't even gotten to the fact Paul was out here patrolling because we found out they have a god damn human living with them!"

Sam fought back the urge to shove Jacob away from him and put him in his place. While Sam was the older of the two and had shifted first, by rights the Alpha position was Jacobs, and if he took control of the pack right now Sam knew they'd be attacking the Cullens within minutes.

He turned back to the Cullens. "One of our tribe was in town yesterday and saw two leech-vampires with a girl who was eating, is it true? Do you have a human in your coven?"

Emmett bared his teeth, not liking this turn of questioning.

"Alice is still human yes." Carlisle informed them.

"Turning her will breach the treaty, you know that don't you?" Sam asked just so everyone was clear on where they stood.

"Stay on your side of the line and we'll stay on ours mutt!" Emmett threatened inching past Carlisle to get into Sam's face.

Sam ignored the large vampire and eyed Carlisle. "Our Elders may wish to speak with her."

Carlisle sighed. Their stay in Forks was supposed to have been easy enough, but it was proving very eventful after only a few days. He wasn't sure that would bode well for the rest of their intended stay.

"That will be for Alice to decide, she's in no danger from any of us." He said to Sam.

Jacob scoffed at that.

"We're sorry about your friend, but we've seen no evidence of any other vampires in this area, although there was an encounter in Seattle, perhaps a nomad passed through the area from there tonight?"

Sam digested that information, Seattle wasn't that far away and he felt some of the pack shift nervously as well. "We'll look into it."

With that he turned and ran, shifting form and racing into the forest away from the Cullens followed quickly by the rest of the pack and more reluctantly by Jacob, who remained human enough to scowl at the vampires before turning his back on them too.

That left Edward, Carlisle and Emmett to stare after them.

"What do you think?" Carlisle asked his sons.

Edward had his usual scowl in place, having listened to the pack talk to each other he was positive they were telling the truth, but Carlisle had been right, a vampire would have just killed the La Push wolf. He turned to his father and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I think coming here was a mistake and we should leave." He told Carlisle as Emmett snorted.

With a sigh Carlisle started the journey back to their home now that the immediate threat from the wolves had been somewhat resolved. "Your mother likes it here and Alice is looking forward to going to school, so too is Bree." He replied to his son who ran beside him as Emmett trailed a little further back, no doubt checking that none of the wolves had decided to follow them.

"They are too unstable for us to be safe here. And I am thinking of Mother when I say that, even with one of them gone I managed to find out that they have a larger pack than the one around the last time we were here." He continued to argue. "We should just leave."

Having some of her questions answered, Bella debated following the shifters to see just how many there were around but thought better of it as she heard the young looking male, Edward, attempt to convince Carlisle that the coven should move on.

Had she not been trying to remain undetected she would have scoffed at his worry. Instead she continued to follow after them at a distance as they took off to their home.

She slowed, hidden by the trees, and watched as the three vampires entered their house then walked around to reclaim a tree branch she had sat in a few hours ago to eye the human.

When she reached her spot she found Alice still sleeping which was good, and there was two vampires in the room with her. Bella liked that especially, because it meant they were protecting the girl while the other few were meeting with the wolf pack.

As she watched the curly haired male left Rosalie with Alice and joined the rest of the coven as the group of six congregated in the living area to discuss the situation with the wolves.

Bella paid no interest to the debate on whether to stay or go as she was only there to watch over the girl.

Leaving the area or not wouldn't change anything for Bella, she would go where the girl went, but part of her had been looking forward to the idea of walking into that school on Monday and meeting her.

But Bella could adapt to changing situations.

And if the Cullens chose to leave she could have free rein with the shifters. _Father would enjoy that._

She smiled as she watched Rosalie flick through some magazine as she lay beside the human on the bed. She wondered how long it would take her to switch places with the blonde, and be the one watching over Alice as she slept.

Soon, she hoped.

xxxxxxxxxxx

**AN/**

Hey guys!

The title is latin, google it, sorry if it confuses some of you into thinking this story wasn't in English, but really, it just wouldn't have the same effect if it was translated.

Anyhow, that was the second chapter.

And guess what?

They meet in the next part!

Yay!


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

Rosalie pulled her car into the school parking lot just behind Edward's Volvo.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked Alice as the pair got out and waited for the others.

Alice knew Rosalie was just concerned for her safety but she really wished her friend had more faith in her ability to see danger. "I've already told you it's going to storm this weekend and we are all playing baseball so nothing bad happens to any of us until after that at least!" She says with a grin as Emmett wandered over and slung his arms around Rosalie's shoulders.

"See babe, it's gonna be fine." Emmett said pulling his wife closer in an attempt to reassure her.

Rosalie tried her best to smile but with the threat of the wolves from La Push and the possibility of other vampires in the area, she just didn't want to risk Alice by splitting up the family just to attend high school. It wasn't worth it.

She'd agreed with Edward, she would rather they left Forks to the safety of the Alaska again if it meant keeping Alice out of harms way.

"Come on before we're late!" Bree said pulling Alice with her as she started for the main building.

Jasper gave a scowling Rosalie a shrug as they all started after the pair. Edward hanging further back as he sulked that no one was taking him seriously enough.

"She does have a point."

Rosalie narrowed her eyes at Jasper only to have him smile back at her and send a wave of euphoria along with it. "Hey, stop that!" She growled at him as soon as it wore off only to watch him jog slowly after his mate and Alice into the school.

Emmett watched his brother go with a shake of his head. "He's so weird now." He commented as he and Rosalie stopped walking.

Edward snorted as he walked past the pair. "Like you weren't just as bad with each other."

"Hey now!" Emmett protested with a frown, but Edward just walked away shaking his head. Emmett looked at his wife. "We weren't were we?" He asked.

Rosalie shrugged. She knew how angry she'd been from the moment she'd woke after her change, how taking her revenge had consumed her, and that even afterwards all she thought about were different ways she could have killed Royce and his friends.

She'd been like that for years until she'd come across Emmett.

"Maybe?" She offered with just the hint of a grin. Emmett had been lucky, just as Esme had, to find their mates so quickly after becoming vampires. They'd never had to experience what it was like to feel like part of you was missing and that you could live an eternity and never come close to finding it.

So maybe she could understand the joy that had entered Jasper's life now. He had changed from the vampire she had met with Alice. Just as she was sure he had changed just as much on having met Alice in the first place.

Jasper never went into much detail of his past or the true cost he had endured as part of the wars of the South, but Carlisle had known details of the death and destruction that had taken place and Edward had shared a few snippets from what he'd been able to see from Jasper's thoughts. None of it had been pretty.

So Rosalie was happy for him, and for Bree, who was still shy and nervous around the rest of the family, but the newborn had taken an instant liking to Alice, but then, everyone liked Alice so Rosalie couldn't fault Bree for succumbing to the human as well.

"I'm sure we'll get used to it." She added as they followed into the building.

Emmett grunted. He was happy for them, he was, he'd just had never seen Jasper so…peppy. It was a little unnerving considering he was a war general who'd killed more vampires than Emmett had ever seen.

"Ugh, I can't believe we're doing this again." Rosalie complained as they entered the school and were hit by the scent of humans.

Emmett grinned taking a deep breath just to annoy his wife. "I kinda like it, it's like fast food, all packed in to tiny little rooms waiting for us!" He said gleefully. "Yum, yum."

Rosalie elbowed him as they finally caught up with the rest of their family. "Knock it off."

Edward scowled at Emmett for his continued thoughts even as he handed the pair their timetables for the rest of the semester.

"I have Art first!" Alice exclaimed happily with a little twirl as the rest of them looked over their subjects and glanced at the maps they'd been given to find out where they were all supposed to be.

"Maths!" Rosalie grumbled and started walking away.

Alice smiled after her sister. "Bye, see you at lunch." She called out and while she didn't have the enhanced hearing the rest of her family did to hear her reply, when they all laughed she did to, because she was sure her sister had said something rude back. "I'm down this way." She said to the others.

"Me too!" Bree said her eyes lighting up at having her first class with her sister.

Bree, Alice and Edward had joined the year as juniors with the others the year above so it was unlikely that they would all have classes together. Carlisle thought it best this way, to keep from making it look too suspicious in such a small school.

"Later!" Emmett said and as a bell rang Edward and Jasper wandered off too.

Finally checking to find out where he should be Emmett saw that he had gym first class. "Sweet!"

Just as he took off he paused and glanced around, he wasn't sure but he could have sworn he'd smelt another vampire, but as he checked the air all he found was human traces. He shook his head and continued, blaming Edwards paranoia all weekend for it.

xxxxxx

Bella tugged at her jacket as she wandered through the parking lot amongst the humans. The jacket had been a late addition as she realised turning up in just a tee given the dark clouds and high chance of rain would have made her stand out. She'd nicked it as she past the petrol station further up the road from the inside of a logging truck.

It was a nice worn brown leather and Bella quite liked it, it went with the jeans and boots she'd found yesterday when she'd braved shopping in Seattle. Not that she'd paid for anything.

"Can I help you?"

Bella scowled glancing around at all the humans walking and talking up and down the halls around her. She hated this. She hated _them_.

"Miss?"

Why was she even here?

"Miss, can I help you?"

Then she remembered with an eye roll. _Oh yeah, Alice._

"Excuse me!" Came the exacerbated tone in front of Bella that almost had her growling in response.

"What?" Bella asked with a glare at the old human female behind the desk she was stood at.

The woman gave her a scathing look before asking, "Is there something you want young lady or do just have nothing to do with your time?"

Bella had to stop herself from snapping at the human and tried to smile. "I'm a new student." She said as she maintained eye contact with the human.

A few seconds later the woman repeated. "A new student."

Bella grinned and got to work. "Isabella Volturi." Again the woman repeated what Bella said. "New, today, Isabella Volturi, senior."

When the woman had repeated Bella word for word she finally broke eye contact and the human blinked rapidly before her face regained some life and she smiled at Bella.

"Oh yes, Miss Volturi, just a moment."

Bella rolled her eyes at how easy humans were to control, she'd already pulled this stunt to get the clothes she wore. It was a bit beneath her, and she never used it to lure humans to their deaths. Which was its intended use, but Bella didn't like to play with her food, her kills were quick and painless for the victims, at least they were when she wanted them to be.

Some people deserved a little pain with their death.

"Here you go dear!" The woman said cheerfully at Bella, handing over two sheets of paper. "Your first class is over in the second build, you should try and not get lost the bell's about to go."

Bella took the sheets and left without a word. She had what she needed. It wasn't until she'd gotten half way to where she was supposed to be going that she suddenly stopped as a thought struck her.

"I should have got the damn human's classes!" She muttered to herself just as someone knocked into her shoulder. She smiled as the well-built guy looked back at her with a frown as he gripped his side and apologised. "Yeah, bet the bruises." She muttered to herself happily as she gave him a full-on grin.

"Ha, maybe this won't be so bad." She said as she continued on, finally getting to the class she had down on the bit of paper, then she had to pull out her little dazzle trick again when the teacher mentioned he hadn't heard of any new student besides the Cullen kids.

By the time she made it to a seat and glanced around Bella was again rethinking her plan to pretend to be a student. There was only humans around her, loud, smelly, dirty, human teenagers.

"Eww." She said as a sweaty boy in the seat in front of her turned around to eye her.

"Kill me now." She muttered to herself as she looked to the ceiling in despair, ignoring the boy as he tried to start up a conversation with her.

xxxxxxxx

"So, how are you liking school life so far kid?" Emmett asked as he and Rosalie sat down beside the rest of their family in the dining hall. He picked up an apple from his tray of useless food and started tossing it about.

Alice chuckled at him and swallowed her own food before answering. "Not too bad so far."

"I like it." Bree agreed, pushing her own food around on her plate.

Edward frowned at the pair only to see Jasper roll his eyes in his direction. He huffed then refocused on Alice. "Have you seen anything yet?" He questioned her.

Rosalie stabbed her fork down onto her plate causing a screeching noise. "Back off!" She growled at her brother.

Edward sat up straighter and glared at his sister. "You know what Carlisle said, we have to be looking for any sign of trouble."

"Alice has already said we are okay this weekend so leave her alone." Rosalie continued, hating how Edward pressured Alice into using her gift whenever he felt it was important.

"Carlisle said-"

"I don't give shit what he said, you shut up and leave Alice the fuck alone!" Rosalie snarled out as quietly as she could to prevent making a scene in front of the humans around them.

As the tension at their table grew they became aware that their names were starting to be mentioned at other tables as humans grouped together to eat.

"That's them over there." Someone said before continuing with, "Helen saw those two kissing, which should be illegal or something! Aren't they brother and sister?"

Emmett grinned at that knowing they were talking about him and Rosalie. "What?" He asked Edward as his brother shot him a glare.

"We haven't even been here a day, and already you two are starting with this?" He accused.

Rosalie shook her head, she didn't care what humans thought about her relationship with Emmett, if she wanted to kiss her husband she was going to. "Grow up Eddie."

Just as Edward was about to respond they caught another snippet from a different group.

"The small dark haired girl, Alice I think, totally weirded out in class." A female voice said with a giggle. "I'm telling you, the teacher called her name three times and nothing! The girl's a freak."

As Rosalie was about to comfort her sister they all paused as they heard a distinctive growl coming from further back in the hall. All of them except Alice turned in that direction and found a girl sitting by herself, glaring over at the table where the girl talking about Alice was.

"Is that-" Rosalie started slowly and very quietly only to be cut off by Alice grabbing at her arm. That drew all of their attentions away from the girl as they watched Alice caught up in a vision.

When Alice felt the vision fade she was confronted by Edward straight away.

"What do you mean 'that's the second one' Alice?"

xxxxxx

Bella continued glaring at the little human that had dared to speak about her mate. The temptation of walking over there and pulling her head from her shoulders as the children seated around her screamed in terror was almost too tempting for her.

But Bella stayed seated, especially given that she'd just blown her cover and the Cullen's were now aware that another vampire was in the hall with them.

She'd really been hoping to get a class with Alice and get the chance to speak with her before having to deal with the rest of the coven. But if she was truly planning that she wouldn't have been sat here needlessly, of course, spending all morning without sight of her mate was much too annoying for Bella and so she'd followed along with the humans in the hopes of just watching the girl from a distance.

But no, teenagers were stupid, and petty, and downright bitchy.

And if Bella had to listen to one more comment about Alice she was going to go on a killing spree.

_How on Earth did I think I could last a year at this?_ She questioned herself as she stood. If her cover was blown she might as well take advantage of it and get closer to the reason for her being here. At worst it would keep her from killing that girl with the mouth.

Walking over to the Cullen table Bella was amused that suddenly she became the topic of conversation as people started speculating as to where she was going.

She rolled her eyes as she came even with the Cullen table. "Mind if I sit?" She didn't wait for an answer as she took one of the two remaining seats left, which luckily for her was directly in front of Alice. "Hi."

Alice frowned briefly as the girl sat down across from her and put her tray down. Glancing around at her siblings who all seemed frozen she shrugged and looked back at the girl with a smile. "Hey." She was surprised as no one normally went out of their way to approach any of her family, or her.

"I'm Alice by the way, this is Bree, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and Edward."

Bella wasn't very interested in introductions and she could hear Edward growling at her, but she ignored it, especially as she'd got the answer she'd been expecting as Alice looked at her with those beautiful blue eyes of hers. The jolt of warmth was more powerful than anything Bella had ever experienced and she wanted nothing more than to gather the girl up and take her away somewhere with her where they could be alone together.

Finally the growling in her ear got too much for her and she snapped her head in Edwards direction. "What. Do. You. Want?" She spat out at him.

Alice chuckled as Edward shifted away from the girl slightly.

Bella was drawn back to Alice by the sound and she smiled at the dark haired girl. "You do know you're sat with a bunch of vampires right?" She asked casually as she picked up a fry and popped it into her mouth much to the disgust of the rest of the table. "What?"

Emmett frowned and looked down at his own plate of food. No way was any of that filth going anywhere near his mouth. A glance around and he knew his sentiments were shared by the rest of his family, even Bree.

"How'd you do that?" He asked, moving away from the vampire conversation because they all knew what she was and the contacts she was wearing didn't quite cover the red tint to her eyes.

Bella shrugged and popped a few more into her mouth just for the fun of it. Human food didn't taste of anything to her, and her venom would take care of it. "Yum." She told the big male with a grin.

"Who are you?" Edward asked coolly. He would have to speak to Carlisle soon and convince him they needed to leave straight away. This had to be the vampire responsible for the wolf disappearance. And that wasn't all.

"Why can't I read you?" He continued, unable to stop himself from inching closer to her and trying to read her mind.

Bella raised an eyebrow at him before turning back to Alice. "So vampires don't scare you?" She asked. Alice shook her head at her. "Not even a little?"

Alice shrugged. "Nope, plus I don't think you'd be here if you meant any of my family harm."

Bella could still feel Edward glaring at her and was about to dispute Alice's claim when that annoying girl made yet another comment directed at Alice. Bella felt a rumble start in her chest as she starting going over all the ways she could torture the girl for her comments, maybe she'd stretch it out for a week just for the fun of it.

Alice watched as a wicked grin took over the new vampires face. And when she saw the direction her eyes darted in she put the pieces together. "It's you."

Bella frowned. "What's me?"

Edward narrowed his eyes at the vampire as Alice was caught in yet another vision. This time Edward did his best to capture everything that Alice saw, and what he saw was a school assembly being called and a policeman standing out front talking about animal attacks and having the students stay out of the woods until the animal was caught and killed.

"You kill Lauren." Alice said softly as she returned to the present.

Emmett laughed. "No way!" He said, "That's so cool."

Rosalie bit her lip to stop herself from agreeing with her husband, she for one won't miss the little bitch and would be happy to spend the rest of the school year without listening to her vindictive comments.

She just couldn't say that out loud because she was supposed to be against human killing. But for Lauren well, Rosalie could make an exception especially if it meant Alice wouldn't have to suffer the teasing, gossipy, talk all year.

Bree frowned, looking from her sister to the stranger. "You can't do that."

Bella pouted. "Why? No one will miss her."

Jasper cleared his throat and tried to calm his tablemates down with his gift. "It would be best if you just ignored the girl, we live in this town and we have to cause as little trouble as possible or it would be necessary for us to move on." He explained.

"Over one little human death?" Bella asked, almost pleadingly.

Jasper smiled and gave her a shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry."

Edward glared at his family wondering why they were even talking to this vampire. "Alice said two."

Alice frowned at her brother. "Humans get sick Edward."

Bella grinned and ate some more food off her plate.

"Who gets sick?" Rosalie asked, she hated it when Edward just listened in and started conversations halfway through that no one else understood properly.

Edward sighed. "Mike Newton doesn't turn up for classes the rest of the week." He explained.

Bella tried not to giggle as she continued to chew and swallow her food.

"And Angela said, he looked ill and probably got the flu or something." Alice continued. "Humans do that."

This time Bella did snort. When the rest of the table looked her way she thought it best to make her leave. Standing she picked up her half empty tray. "Well, this has been fun." She spared Alice a warm smile and a wink. "I guess I might see some of you in class."

Alice gave the vampire a wave as she walked away. Her eyes following the new girl as she dumped her tray and then exited the room.

"She seemed nice."

Alice was surprised when her family chuckled, snorted or growled at her comment.

"What?"

Rosalie shook her head. "So there is another vampire in the area." She shared with her family, speaking loud enough for Alice to hear too.

"And we might have two more deaths soon." Jasper added feeling apprehensive.

Edward guffed. "Yeah, what are the chances of those two things _not_ being connected?" He stood from the table. "I'm calling Carlisle about this." He said walking away.

"Of course you are." Rosalie muttered.

Alice shrugged, she liked the vampire. "She seemed nice."

Jasper hid a smile as he felt exactly how 'nice' Alice considered the stranger. "I'm sure she is." He added for Alice's benefit. While he himself was troubled by the vampire's arrival he understood that it was very possible they had all just been seated with Alice's mate.

Rosalie shared a look with Jasper that communicated that they both knew the vampire was going to be around and they'd soon learn just how _nice_ she was. "Come on before the bell goes."

As they all got up Jasper lowered his voice to keep Alice out of the conversation. "Did you catch her name?"

"Hm." Rosalie nodded, several humans had spoken about the vampire. "You think it's for real?" She asked keeping her voice low even as Bree and Emmett talked with Alice further ahead of them.

Jasper lifted an eyebrow at his sister. "Would you risk using the Volturi name?"

Rosalie shuddered. She'd spent a weekend in Volterra along with Carlisle, Esme, Edward and Emmett and if she never went back it would be too soon.

"No, not a chance."

To get caught impersonating a member of the Volturi coven meant certain death, and that would only come after witnessing all of your loved ones tortured and dead before you.

"Then this is going to be more of a problem than a dead dog or a few missing humans." Jasper admitted. If Isabella and Alice were mates, there was nothing any of them could do to change that. The fact that Isabella was a Volturi meant going against her could end all of their lives.

"How long do you think before she tries killing Edward?" Jasper asked with a sly grin. As long as Isabella made Alice happy and as long as he got to keep Alice in his life somehow, then he wouldn't stand between them.

Rosalie laughed hard at that. "Ha! Probably the next time she has to be anywhere near him!" She admitted.

"Esme would be upset."

Rosalie shrugged. "Then you'd better go tell him to keep his mouth shut if he wants to keep his head." She was only half serious when she said that, but Jasper nodded and took off anyway.

"We have English next." Alice said as Rosalie joined her Bree and Emmett.

Rosalie looked at her class list even although she already had it memorised. "Geography."

Rosalie watched Bree and Alice walk away and turned to Emmett and started off in the other direction. "Wonder if Edward will listen to Jazz."

Emmett shrugged pulling on his wife's hand. "It'll all work out babe."

"Hm."

xxxxxxx

Bella watched the Cullen's all split off and dismissed talk of her killing Edward. Unless he did something to harm her mate she would let the vampire live. Until then she would ignore his threats and whining.

As Emmett and Rosalie walked off Bella started after Alice.

Not only was she sick of spending time around humans in these pointless classes she was forcing herself to sit through, she was tired of being away from her mate. If she had to dazzle every teacher in the damn school to be in all the girls classes so be it.

Plus, she could keep the girl safe from that horrible Lauren girl.

Bella pouted at the thought of not being able to slaughter the girl for her comments about her mate, but she was getting a very interesting idea about her mate from the last hour.

It looked like little Alice Cullen could see the future.

Bella grinned as she followed her mates scent along another corridor and up a flight of stairs.

She had to admit she was rarely impressed with gifted vampires, Aro's gift was boring, but Jane's was pretty cool, so too Chelsea's, Edwards however sounded plain annoying. Luckily none of those gifts could get past Bella's own powers.

But her very own mates power?

Seeing into the future?

As a human?

That was just cool anyway you looked at it.

xxxxxxxxxxx

**AN/**

Hey, part 3!

Whoop!

Did I say 10 parts? Hm, I might go over that, we'll have to wait and see.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

"Stop that!"

Bella pouted as Alice slapped at her leg.

Alice shook her head and turned away from the vampire and vowed to ignore the wide eyed innocent look she was receiving and try and pretend to be paying attention to their teacher.

Bella watched the girl scribble into her notebook and wondered why she bothered. Alice was part of a world so much bigger than the human children around her could ever hope to imagine. She was better than this, better than being forced to endure hours and hours of so-called 'education' when Bella could show Alice the world.

Literally.

Instead, she was being subjected to books that 'retold' America's history. Bella would have scoffed at the mere thought of that given just how biased it was sounding so far. The written word rarely provided the reader with a true account of any event, there was always bias. Always one side that was shaped and moulded to the victor's truth, painting all actions as just and honourable, with the opposing side the dark foes, inflicting horror and oppression wherever they went.

Bella smiled to herself as she knew that was likely how the Cullen's would describe the Volturi to the girl.

Was Bella the villain?

And did she care if she was?

She eyed the dark haired girl, more interested in her than in the lesson being taught by the teacher out front. She wondered if she should attempt to court the girl. Had the Cullen's explained a mate bond to her? Had Alice been promised immortality by one of the coven members already?

Would Carlisle take that honour himself?

Bella felt her beast rage at the thought.

It displeased her that her mate had the scent of several vampires on her as it was, the idea that one would lay fangs on the girl? Drain her of life and inject their own venom into Alice?

Bella would kill every member of the Cullen coven before she allowed that to happen.

She shifted closer to the girl, brushing shoulders with her. Alice paused in her note taking and gave her a quick glance but otherwise did nothing.

Bella nodded to herself, glad that her mate hadn't tried to create a distance between them.

She would go to the Cullen house tonight and meet with Carlisle.

After she took care of her Father's gift.

Bella scowled, begrudging the time it would take her away from spending with her mate.

Not only did she have to contend with school and the human's need to sleep half the day away, she had the Cullen's to negate. She was positive that Edward was already forming more reasons to leave Forks behind and her attempts to amuse herself playing with Alice's power probably weren't going to help keep the Cullen's around.

She sighed, then nudged Alice's shoulder again gently, careful not to hurt her mate.

Alice flicked her eyes up in question.

"Sorry." Bella muttered although she had difficultly pulling off a truly repentant look. "All done."

Alice went back to her notes, frowning at the sudden change. Bella had been in her last two classes and so far she had seen seven different versions of turning up at school tomorrow, each flash of the future a variation of the same thing, death of students and teachers from school.

Alice looked to make sure the teacher was busy then turned to Bella. "You have to decide on it for me to see…you would just do that? Kill all of them?"

Bella shrugged fighting a grin. "Sure, other than you, I'm finding all of this rather…unnecessary. I'm not sure how your coven can do this again and again."

It was a more honest reply than Alice had been expecting.

"It's my first time really." She admitted softly putting her head back down.

Bella grinned. "Rest assured you will have far more exciting firsts to experience."

The look Bella gave Alice when she lifted her head made the girl blush although she didn't really understand why.

Confused, Alice was grateful when the bell rang out ending the class and giving her time to collect herself. As she packed up her bag, Bree stood waiting beside her and she followed Jasper's mate towards the door as Bella followed close behind.

Bree shot the other vampire cautious looks as she guided Alice towards their final class of the day. She wasn't sure what Isabella had been doing to give Alice so many visions into the future but there was no way it could be a good thing, Alice rarely had happy visions.

"You okay?" Bree whispered as the navigated along the crowed hallway.

Alice nodded to Bree but suddenly she was grabbed and pulled, she blinked and found herself outside near the back car park.

Bella growled angrily as she yanked Edwards shoulder back as he released Alice. He flew past her as she moved to get between the livid Cullen and her mate. Soon the rest of the Cullen's surrounded them and Bella decided she should just end the vampire's life here and now before he could harm Alice more.

Alice gasped and reached out for Bella. "Please don't." She begged having seen Bella attack Edward and leave him as ash on the ground.

Bella snarled at Edward as he crouched at the ready in front of her, but all movement to kill the boy had been halted at the first touch of Alice's hand on her arm.

She didn't like the idea of backing down from the boy, especially after he had dared to manhandle her mate out of the school.

"Please!"

Bella huffed but stepped back, forcing Alice backwards as well, as she continued to watch Edward closely. "Never touch her again." She threatened, teeth bared.

"You're a monster!" Edward spat, not caring if he was overheard by any of the humans. "I saw what you did, what you're planning to do, we should kill you now!" He said looking to his family for support.

Rosalie gasped. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"You can't threaten a member of the Volturi, Edward." Jasper warned wondering how his family would get out of this if Bella elected to share this conversation with Aro.

Bella's eyes narrowed at Edward, while it was clear the rest of his coven disagreed with him, she doubted this would be the end of the matter.

She looked around finally noticing that there was a lack of human children around for which she was actually grateful for. When it was clear to her that Edward wasn't willing to risk himself by attacking her, now that the rest of his family had protested the idea, Bella felt it safe enough to turn her attention to her mate.

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking the human over for any injury. She'd wanted to rip Edward from her when he had grabbed her but that would have risked Alice.

Alice nodded but rubbed at her arm.

Frowning Bella stepped closer and lifted the material away from the girl's skin to get a closer look. She growled as she saw red marks on the pale flesh. A hand print.

"It's okay."

"It's really not." Bella refuted but allowed Alice to cover her arm once more. Feeling angry enough to kill Edward and any of the Cullen's that tried to get in her way wasn't a good thing but the knowledge that her mate had been harmed while she'd been unable to act infuriated Bella.

"You!" She spat at Edward. "Go find Carlisle and inform him that I demand a meeting at his home tonight where he can attempt to convince me not to rip your head off for touching my mate!" She growled at him, stepping closer and closer as she spoke until she was face to face with the vampire.

Edward frowned, eyeing his family for some direction, but they were all telling him to do as Bella said. Emmett thought he should be grateful for the chance to walk away after threatening a member of the Volturi.

Disgruntled at his family's thoughts Edward blew out a breath and stayed where he was, holding his head high in defiance. Who was this vampire to be telling him what to do?

At the end of her patience with the boy Bella's hand shot out and took a firm grip on the Cullen boy's neck, tightening her hold as she brought his face an inch from her own.

"That wasn't a request." She told him, smiling as cracks started to appear as she continued to add pressure. She waited but the rest of the Cullen's remained watching and she was satisfied that Edward's actions were solely his own. But she continued until his eyes widened to their fullest and he started to reek of fear before tossing him aside with a flick of her wrist. "Now go do as you're told, boy."

Edward felt around his neck carefully, feeling the cracks start to heal as he realised just how close to death he had just come. Jumping to his feet he raced off towards the hospital.

Emmett watched his brother take off and chuckled as he eyed the vampire who had gone back to looking over Alice as Bree stood beside the pair nervous and unsure as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"That was pretty cool." He muttered to Rosalie.

Rosalie gave him a look to tell him to be quiet.

"What now?" Rosalie asked as she watches Bella and Alice share a look as they stood with their faces inches apart.

Nervous of how close Bella was to Alice given she'd watched the vampire almost kill Edward right there in front of them, Bree swallowed and placed her hand on the small of Alice's back.

"We should get to class." She said, hoping to separate her human sister from the vampire in front of her.

Bella's eyes shifted from Alice and she half stepped towards Bree with a growl ripping from her throat as her eyes hardened.

Then the newborn was out of her sight as her mate, the curly haired blonde, snatched her up into his arms and raced her over to where Emmett and Rosalie stood.

Bella's nostrils flared as she tried to control her anger. She was at her limit for interference between her and her mate. And it was dangerous to be around Alice feeling as she did. She had no wish to make the human fear her any more than she may already.

Bella ignored the other vampires and lifted her hand to gently trail the tips of her fingers down Alice's cheek. She was charmed as the human reacted by blushing and ducking her gaze.

That simple act of submission stirred the flame of desire in Bella, but as much as she wanted to continue with taking the first steps of teaching the human what it meant to be a vampire's mate she had things to attend to before meeting with Carlisle.

Bella sighed and retreated from Alice while she still could.

"Go to class." She said, finally answering Rosalie's question.

The human studied her before going to her coven and following them into the building.

"Aren't you coming?" Alice asked turning back as she realised Bella hadn't moved to join them.

Bella's hand clenched at her side as she struggled to leave. "I will see you in a few hours." She assured the girl, pleased that she wanted her with her in class and hadn't been frightened of her by her actions in the last few moments.

Alice paused then gave the vampire a nod, "Okay." And disappeared into the building.

Bella lingered a few moments more. "Make sure no harm comes to her." She said when she was sure that only the Cullen's would hear her and not Alice.

And with that, Bella left as there was a wolf to tie a bow around and send on its way to Marcus.


End file.
